as you descend Redstone Rig. Dark, uniform grey gives way to paler speckles; layered sandstone gives way to rounded granite. To inspect the actual rock junction, take a leftward line down the ridge and look for a striking slab sloped towards you. The granite–greywacke junction crosses the downhill rockface below (NX 4343 8532).
Approaching the granite, the heated greywacke loses its bedding structure. On the other side, approaching the magma chamber wall the granite forms only the smallest crystals, so the visible speckles are lost. Thus the difference between the two is less marked at the actual junction than across the hill as a whole.
Descend south of east, with steep drops into Howe of the Caldron on your left. In clear conditions, once at the plateau edge it is possible to see Loch Enoch spread below; head for its right-hand corner. In mist, the wide, lumpy Redstone Rig provides no clear line – aim somewhat to the left (north) of the loch corner, and on reaching the loch turn right along a sketchy path. The loch’s southwest corner has a fence line running down to a tiny golden-sand beach. Here switch to Walk 6 for the Rig of Buchan descent.
Continue along the loch’s south side on a sketchy path for 250 metres, then turn up to the right into a grassy gap between two hillocks. At once this becomes a little pass, just 15m higher up than the loch itself. The actual outflow is at the northwest corner, but here, and also the northeast and southeast corners, are almost outflows too.
A peaty path forms in the little pass and leads down just west of south, with a small stream on its left, to reach the reed-infested western corner of Loch Neldricken, known as the Murder Hole.
Like Doone valley on Exmoor, the Murder Hole is a fictional place that has made it onto modern maps. In The Raiders by SR Crockett, the evil Macaterick bandits murdered passing hill-walkers for our sandwich snacks then trampled our bodies into the bog. Old postcards show it as an oval enclosure quite separate from the main lake.
Once past the soggy hollow put to such grim use by the fictitious (but very vicious) Macaterick clan, the path bends southeast across a flank of Meaul to reach the corner of Loch Valley. It runs along the loch’s western end, then down beside its outflow, the Gairland Burn. The path here can become very soggy; an alternative path is to the left of the stream.
After 1km down the high hidden valley, the path contours out to the right – a ‘seat stone’ is alongside the stream here. The path, of peat puddles and tall rounded boulders, is tiring in descent. After passing behind a knoll there’s a view of Loch Trool ahead, and the path slants down through bracken to the track running through the woods beside the loch.
Follow the track ahead, past Buchan farm, with its conical turret almost buried among the oaks, and across Buchan Burn below a waterfall. Where the uphill track bends right, take a small path ahead. The peat has eroded away to bare rock on the short pull up to Bruce’s Stone.
Merrick path, looking back along Neive of Spit to Benyellary
WALK 6
The Dungeon Hills
| Start/Finish | Lower car park at Bruce’s Stone (NX 414 803) |
| Distance | 19km (12 miles) |
| Ascent | 1050m (3500ft) |
| Approx time | 7–8hrs |
| Terrain | Small rough paths, rough grassy hillsides and bare granite slabs |
| Max altitude | Mullwarchar, 692m |
| Maps | Landranger 77 (Dalmellington); Explorer 318 (Galloway N); Harveys Galloway Hills |
| Parking | The lower Bruce’s Stone car park, with a ‘dual carriageway’ layout |
| Variant | Omit all three hills for a good bad-weather outing or short day past Lochs Valley and Neldricken to Galloway’s central mystery, lovely Loch Enoch – 11.5km (7 miles) with 600m (2000ft) of ascent (about 4½hrs) |
Three ridges around the edge of the Galloway Hills include Merrick, Shalloch and Corserine, all with Corbett (2000-footer) status. But these ridges, like the Sanctuary around Annapurna, only conceal the inner hills – Craignaw, Mullwarchar and the Dungeon – and their unique little land of granite and standing water.
The land is home to grey mists, black peat and a herd of shaggy mountain goats, as well as the Murder Hole at the end of Loch Neldricken. There could have been an even more murderous hole in the middle of Mullwarchar, where it was planned to deposit nuclear waste hoping protesters wouldn’t even be able to pronounce it. The Devil’s Bowling Green, with balls as big as sheep, is a ‘green’ that’s actually granite. And there’s a special secret – high, wild Loch Enoch has an island, and that island itself contains a very small loch.
As the clouds descend onto the peaty holes and the rock slabs, in no time at all you’re a lost walker. A lost walker within a (misty) mystery, wrapped within a secret, inside 30km of lochans and bog...
Continue up the road beyond the lower car park for 10 metres, then take a small informal path through woods on its right. After 150 metres this arrives at Bruce’s Stone, perched high above Loch Trool.
Keep ahead towards the loch head to find a small descending path where the peat is eroded down to bare rock. It joins a track descending from the car park to cross a bridge over Buchan Burn, then pass Buchan house. After 250 metres take a field gate on the left, with a signboard for Loch Valley, for the start of a rough path.
Loch Valley outflow
The path slants up through bracken, then curves round into the valley of the Gairland Burn. Where it arrives beside the burn, there’s a comfortable ‘seat stone’ beside the stream. The path runs up to the left of the burn to arrive at the outflow of Loch Valley. It passes to the left of Loch Valley, rather soft and wet. The path here is divided, with the left-hand and slightly higher branch eventually bearing up left to the Murder Hole. The Murder Hole is described in Walk 5.
Short-cut – the three lochs
Even without the three Dungeon Hills, any visit to Loch Enoch is a rugged and rewarding hill day. This direct way to Loch Enoch reverses part of Walk 5. At the corner of Loch Valley, take the more obvious path ahead, about 200 metres to the left of Mid Burn. It bends left as it rises around the flank of Meaul, then joins Loch Neldricken at its southwest corner (the Murder Hole).
Head around the loch corner, crossing a stream, then follow the path up in a straight line, just east of north, with a small stream on its right. Loch Arron is just visible on your right, then the path passes through a tiny grassy pass for the very slight drop to Loch Enoch.
Turn left along the shoreline for 250 metres to the loch’s southwest corner, and here rejoin the main route.
For
